Deauville American Film Fest Unveils Lineup

PARIS -- Old school Hollywood glam will storm the Normandy beaches with an army of star power including Francis Ford Coppola, Blake Edwards, Todd Solondz, Shirley MacLaine, Danny Glover and Naomi Watts when the 37th annual Deauville American Film Festival kicks off on Sept. 2.

Coppola will be this year’s Guest of Honor while Edwards, Solondz, MacLaine, Glover and Watts will all receive special career hommages during the fest complete with screenings of their films.

French director Olivier Assayas will lead the feature film jury while French writer-director Samuel Benchetrit will lead the Revelations jury to pick this year’s Cartier trophy winner.

Tate Taylor’s The Help will open the festival with the film’s talents expected to add some red carpet sparkle. The film, based on the best-selling novel, stars Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard in the story about women in 1960s Mississippi who form an unlikely friendship. Michel Hazanavicius’ Festival de Cannes Competition entry The Artist will also screen in a special “Awards Ceremony Screening” slot.

This year’s Deauville lineup features an eclectic mix of premiere screenings including Robert Redford’s The Conspirator with James McAvoy, Kevin Kline and Robin Wright, Famke Janssen’s Bringing up Bobby starring Milla Jovovich, Marcia Cross and Bill Pullman, David Dobkin’s The Change-up with Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman and Olivia Wilde, plus Nicolas Winding Refn’s Festival de Cannes hit Drive, Craig Gillespie’s Fright Night with Colin Farrelland Anton Yelchin and a special children's screening of The Lion King-3D.

This year’s Uncle Sam Documentaries category will feature Alex Stapleton’s Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel that tracks the rise of Roger Corman and features Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro. Other Uncle Sam highlights include Cindy Meehl’s Buck, James Marsh’s Project Nim, Andrew Rossi’s Page One: A Year inside the New York Times, Chris Paine’s Revenge of the Electric Car, Susanne Rostock’s Sing Your Songand Goran Hugo Olsson’s The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975.

The fest will put the small screen in the spotlight for the second year in a row with TV sidebar “Deauville Season 2.” Canal Plus’ mega international project The Borgias will host its premiere for fest-goers complete with the series’ first two episodes that will air on the pay TV network in Gaul this fall. Borgias creator Tom Fontana will be in town for a Masterclass. This year’s Lucien Barriere Literary Prize will go to Michael Collins for his book Midnight in a Perfect Life.